Annealing-kiln



2 SheetsSheet 1.

(No Model.)

A. D. BROGAN, J. CRAIG & J. FRENCH.

ANNEALING KILN.

Patented June 18,1889.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2..

ANNEALING KILN.

Patented June 18,1889.

(No Model.)

A. D. BROCrAN, J. CRAIG & J. FRENCH.

N. PETERS. Phol0 LHhngraphen walhingwn, D. C.

limrnn Sterne Parent Orriicn,

ANTIIYON Y DIXON BROGAN AND JAMES CRAIG, OF FIR-HILL, irLASGOlV, COUNTY OF LANARK, SCOTLAND, AND JOSEPH FRENOH, OF ST. PAUL, ll'llNNESOTA.

ANNEALENG=KILN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 405,527, dated June 18, 1889. Application filed March 2'7, 1888. Serial No. 268,618. (No model) Patented in England September 15, 1887, No. 12,546.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ANTHONY DIXON BRO- GAN and JAMES CRAIG, citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Firhill, Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, Scotland,and JOSEPH FRENCH, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 392 Jackson street, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gl ass-An nealing Kilns, (which have not been patented in any country except Great Britain by Letters Patent September 15, 1877, No. 12,516 and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the manufacture or art to which it relates to make and use the same.

Our invention has for its object to enable the duty or working capacity of glassannealing kilns or lears to be largely increased without adding or materially adding to their length or superficial area; and to that end the invention consists in providing such kilns with glass-depositing surfaces or shelves arranged in tiers two, three, or more deep, by means of which the plates or sheets of glass in process of annealing are gradually traversed through the kiln, and with an elevator or other means for raising the plates or sheets from the floor or back-stone of the kiln and laying them upon any of the upper tiers of bars or grids. Each tier of depositing-surfaces is composed of a stationary set of bars and a grid or set of traveling bars adapted to be traversed back and forth longitudinally and to be raised and lowered as in the ordi nary sin gle-tier lear-kiln; and in operation the glass plates or sheets are delivered singly and in rotation upon the seve 'al grids or depositing-surfaces, the latter being also in like rotation operated to draw a stage forward at a time the glass plates or sheets are upon them, one grid being operated while the other grid or grids lie idle, with the glass resting upon it or them, so that while each plate or sheet of glass remains for the usual length of time within the kiln the quantity of glass in pro cess of annealing at a given time is doubled, tripled, or quadrupled, according as two, three, or four tiers of bars or grids are employed in lieu of the usual single tier.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of an annealing kiln or lear with three tiers of bars or grids. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same, showing the stationary and traveling bars or grids in plan. Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the levers, by means of which the elevator and the traveling bars are raised and lowered. Figs. 4 and 5 are elevations of opposite ends of the kiln, and Figs. 6 and 7 are views of details hereinafter referred to.

The kiln A is, as regards the building of the chamber and the firing arrangements, similar to the ordinary form of lear-kiln; but just beyond the back-stone or floor B, on which the glass plates or sheets are laid on being introduced through the usual slit or doorway G into the kiln and at the floor-level, is placed an elevator carried upon lever-arms E. This elevator is composed of a number of bars D arranged in pairs, as shown in plan. in Fig. 2 at short intervals apart. The ends of the lever or crank arms E are pivoted between the ends of the bars of each pair, so that when such arms E are raised the bars D will be elevated, in the manner shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The said lever-arms E are parallel and are secured upon crossshafts F, extending out through the side of the kiln and having on their ends arms G, to which is attached a connecting rod or link g, whose other end, near the rear or delivery end of the kiln, is jointed to a bell-crank or hand-lever H, by which the raising and lowering of the elevator is effected. The handlever 11 works in aquadrant or like device, in which it may be set to either of three positionstl1e normal one, in which the elevatorgrid lies in line with the lowest tier of bars at the level of the back-stone or floor of the kiln, a mid position, in which the elevator rests in or over the line of the second tier of bars, and a third position, in which the elevator is brought up, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. Ljust over the line of the upper tier of bars. Thus, when the plate or sheet of glass is pushed from the back-stone onto the elevator, it may, by operating the lever-handle H, be brought to a convenient position to be delivered onto either of the tiers of bars.

I I I are the stationary bars of each tier, and J J J 3 the traveling bars or grids, which are constructed and fitted in the usual way, an uppersurface coating of asbestus being, however, under our invention, applied to the bars to avoid chilling and cracking the glass at. the lines of contact with the bars. Each of the traveling bars or grids J J J rests upon grooved wheels or pulleys K, carried by lever-arms L on cross-shafts M, extending through the side wall of the kiln and con nected together by links N. The links N are connected to hand-leversone P provided for operating the lower tier of traveling bars J, a second P for operating the bars J and a third P for operating the bars J --and by means of these hand-levers P P P any of the traveling bars or grids may, by operating on the lever-arms L, carrying the pulleys K, be raised slightly over the level of the corresponding stationary bars I I 1 ,01 depressed to lie slightly under the level of said stationary bars.

I11 the operation of the kiln a plate or sheet of glass being raised by the elevatorfor example, to the line of the t ier of bars I J the traveling bars J are depressed by means of the hand-lever P Thebars J 3 are then pushed forward under the elevator, as shown at Fig. 1, the elevator bars being so spaced that the traveling-bars enter between them. Then by means of the hand-lever H, the elevator is lowered, leaving the glass upon the traveling bars J which are then raised and pulled back, drawing the glass plate with them, after which the bars are lowered, thereby depositing the glass on the stationary bars. The next plate of glass pushed from the back stone onto the elevator is delivered onto the traveling bars J which are operated in like manner, and the following sheet is deposited onto the bars J of the lowest tier, in which the kiln-floor may serve as the depositing-surface, instead of the set of stationary bars I. By continuing the operations of depositing the glass plates or sheets on the several tiers of bars and periodically drawing them rearward and depositing them a series of plates or sheets are deposited, one a stage in advance of another throughout the entire length of the bars, the whole of said plates or sheets in each tier being raised, carried along by the traveling bars, and deposited afresh at each action of said bars, and by the time the plates or sheets reach the delivery end of the kiln they have sufficiently cooled and are lifted off and removed.

To facilitate the operations of drawing and pushing the traveling bars, which, when fully loaded, are of considerable Weight, the pulleys K, which support the said bars in lieu of being carried in fixed hearings in the lever-arms L, in the ordinary way, as shown at Fig. 6, are by preference carried with their axes or spindles in slots Z, formed in the arms L, as shown at Fig. 7, or on guideways formed on the arms, so that the pulley-spim dles may run freely and travel with the bars in the early part of the movement or throughout the movement of the latter, and thus lessen friction.

Having now described our invention, what we desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is 1. A glass-annealing kiln or lear having two or more tiers of depositing-surfaces arranged one above another, in combination with means, such as an elevator and traveling or transferring bars, for laying the glass on any of said surfaces, and stops for locking said elevator at any of said tiers, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a glass-annealing kiln or lear, of two or more tiers of depositing-surfaces, composed of stationary and traveling bars, and an elevator or grid capable of being raised and lowered to the level of any of said depositing-surfaces, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a glass-annealing kiln, of two or more glass-depositing shelves arranged one above the other in the kiln and movable longitudinally independent of each other, an elevator arranged at the. end of said surfaces or shelves to convey the glass to any of said surfaces or shelves, a lever for operating said elevator, and a quadrant having a number of stops equal to the number of shelves or surfaces, substantially as set forth.

4. In a glass-annealing kiln or lear, the combination of a lifting grid or elevator D, the stationary glass-supporting bars I I I arranged longitudinally in said kiln, and the traveling bars J J J arranged parallel with and slightly below said stationary bars and adapted to be projected under said grid, said stationary and traveling bars being arranged in a vertical tier, substantially as set forth. 7

5. In a glass-annealing kiln or lear having traveling bars, the lever-arms K, formed with slots or long bearings to carry the pulleys supporting said bars, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. Y

6. In a glass-annealing kiln, the combination, with a tier of shelves, of the rock-shafts F, arranged at the ends and slightly below the level of the bottom shelf, the bars D, arranged in pairs across said shafts, arms G, and the link connecting said arms, lever-arms E 011 said shafts, pivotedbetween said bars D,

and mechanism,substantially as described, for locking said elevator at the level of any of said shelves, as set forth.

7. In a glass-annealing kiln, the combination, with a tier of shelves, of the rock-shafts arranged at the end and slightly below the bottom shelf, the bars D, arranged in pairs, supported across said rock-shafts, parallel lever-arms E, secured to said rock-shafts and pivoted at their ends between the ends of the said bars D, crank-arms G 011 said shafts, a link connecting said arms G, and abell-crank lever II, connected to said link, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof We, the said ANTHONY DIXON BROGAN and JAMES CRAIG, have hereunto set our hands this 28th dayof February, 1888.

ANTHONY DIXON BROGAN. JAMES CRAIG. 

